Three's a Crowd
by i need sleep
Summary: Alfendi is promoted – and a new inspector is brought into the Mystery Room! Unfortunately, Alfendi does not like him. The new Chief Inspector must now try to not strangle his new subordinate while, at the same time, sorting out his feelings for the other one.
1. Dartwright

**Three's a Crowd  
A Mystery Room Fanfic  
by **I Need Sleep

_Summary: _Alfendi is promoted – and a new inspector is brought into the Mystery Room! Unfortunately, Alfendi does not like him. The new Chief Inspector must now try to not strangle his new subordinate while, at the same time, sorting out his feelings for the other one.

* * *

**Chapter 1: **Dartwright

Alfendi Layton held the letter in his hands, eyes skimming over the words over and over. The words seemed to jumble the more he looked at it, but he couldn't help it.

He was getting promoted to chief inspector.

He flipped the letter in his hands and flipped it back upright. The contents of the letter did not change – it still brought the message that he was going to be promoted to Chief Inspector Alfendi Layton due to his "perseverance and hard work over the years".

He needed to see the Commissioner.

He felt conflicted. On one hand, he was fairly happy about being recognised as having a great potential. But on the other hand, he was content with his life as it was, staying in the Mystery Room with plucky Lucy Baker. He had no doubts that the new position meant changes in routine. His head was silent – his other personality also seemed to have been stunned by the letter. With shaking hands, Alfendi placed the letter down and stepped out of the Mystery Room, walking down the still quiet halls towards the Commissioner's office.

He shoved the doors wide open and startled Deputy Commissioner Chan, but Commissioner Barton merely smiled a knowing smile.

"I'm promoted?" Alfendi growled in question, striding towards the front of the head of the Scotland Yard's office.

Taken by surprise and seemingly appalled, Deputy Commissioner Chan crossed his arms over his chest and frowned at Alfendi, who continued to ignore him in favour of keeping his eyes trained on the Commissioner, as if the older man was a magician and he was about to perform a trick Alfendi did not want to miss. "Inspector Layton-"

"Chief inspector Layton," corrected the Commissioner. "You have received recommendations from me and Miss Hilda Pertinax of the International Criminal Police Organisation." He stood up and stepped away from his desk, walking over to stand in front of the frowning burgundy haired man. He gave him a kind smile. "Congratulations."

"I haven't—"

"Deputy Commissioner Chan," the older man turned towards the frowning mustached man who stood by the desk with his arms crossed over his chest, tilting his head towards the door. "Would you mind leaving us to talk for a few minutes?"

The Deputy Commissioner said nothing, but he let his arms drop and he marched off towards the exit, shutting the door behind him with a quiet click. Once the man was gone, Commissioner Barton turned his attention back to the fuming Alfendi.

"Normally," he began with a joking tone, "people are happy about being promoted."

Alfendi flinched as he changed back to his more docile personality. "I'm happy, I'm just…"

"Yes?"

"I like me as I am," he answered lamely, letting out a puff of breath. The Commissioner let out a chuckle, moving back towards his desk. He motioned towards the leather seat behind Alfendi.

"Why don't you have a seat?" Barton offered while making space on his desk and lacing his fingers together in front of him. "Nothing would change much, Alfendi," he said, answering the unvoiced question. "It is merely a formality – a change in title rather than a change in responsibilities. I would appreciate it if you continue to work as you do now, in the Mystery Room."

He opened his drawer and pulled out an epaulette. "I had the feeling you would come to see me," he said, handing it over to Alfendi who observed it like a scientist observing something under the microscope. "I know you don't wear epaulettes," he motioned towards the labcoat, "but that's yours now."

The new chief inspector ran his fingers over the embroidery and stared at the three pips. He was still unsettled, but he contained his confusion, holding back and not letting his harsher personality show through again. "Thank you, Commissioner," he said, getting up and shaking the older man's hand. "I'll get back to work, now."

"Carry on," the Comissioner said, walking alongside the other man to the door. He patted the younger man's back and held the door open for him. "I shall see you around." Commissioner Barton had a call to make.

He nodded and began his trek back to the back office which had been his base of operations for the past couple of years. He'd shoved the epaulette into his pocket along with his newspapers and ignored the stares of people he passed by, not used to seeing the contemplative man walking around outside of the Mystery Room. He paid them no mind and he soon walked into his office to come face to face with a grinning Lucy Baker.

At the familiar sight of his assistant, Alfendi's eyebrows rose. "Good morning, Lucy," he greeted with a smile. He looked over to the clock that hung in the room. "You're on time."

"Aye, I am," she said, grinning, before cheekily adding, "chief inspector."

Alfendi chuckled nervously, his hand landing on the back of his neck, "yes," he said, "it seems I got promoted."

"Congratulations, Prof!" she said, jumping up in glee. "You deserve it!"

He smiled sheepishly at her, his cheeks flaring. _'God,'_ his abrasive personality thought, _'you look so ridiculous.' _"Thank you, Lucy," he said, ignoring the voice in his head snarking away. "It came as a surprise."

"I think you had it coming," she said, still cheerful. Typical of Lucy – but this was a victory he could share with her, considering she did help clear his name. "Congratulations, Prof!" she repeated.

"Yes," a voice rang from the doorway, and the duo looked over to find a blonde-haired, bespectacled young man standing there with an unpleasant look in his face. "Congratulations, chief inspector Layton."

"Can I help you?" he asked, observing the man in front of him. The man stepped forward and placed his box of things down onto Alfendi's desk, right over his promotion letter which he did not make any effort to grab. He resisted the urge to lift an eyebrow in question, opting to maintain a calm outer shell to hide the fact that he didn't like this new male's presence.

The man in the finely pressed suit stretched his arm out and offered it to the purple haired 29 year old. "I'm Blaine Dartwright," he said. "The new inspector."

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**Author's Note: First off, **thank you for taking the time to read me. And secondly: Aw, snap.

University (specifically group work) is stressing me out so much I decided to write this and another Lucifendi story, and I decided to buy _Professor Layton v Phoenix Wright_ for my 3DS. Stress does strange things to you, man. Strange, strange things.

If any followers of Being Second ever come across this, apologies for Chapter 14 taking a while to come out - I have drafted out two different versions/starts of/to Chapter 14 and I don't know which one to use! I will hopefully get it written, edited, and published once the group stuff at uni die down.


	2. Baker

**Three's a Crowd  
****A Mystery Room Fanfiction  
****by** I Need Sleep

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**Chapter 2:** Baker

Lucy noticed a change in the dynamics in the Mystery Room ever since Alfendi got promoted to chief inspector a week ago.

Unfortunately, it was not a positive change.

Her new co-worker, Blaine Dartwright, was a clever man. Quick thinking and often sure of himself and his abilities. Unfortunately, he had an ego that can compete with Potty Prof's, which lead to occasional tense moments in the office when both men are sitting behind their desks, muttering.

He didn't like the way the Mystery Room duo worked. He didn't like the way that they remained in the office, content to check the crime scene from a screen and Dartwright would often make snide remarks about it which makes Lucy want to give him a Lucy Lamping. Placid Prof is too nice to say anything - so she decided she'd do it for him the next time he brings it up.

The new inspector doesn't really like Potty Prof much, and for some reason, he's been appearing more often. When she cornered Placid Prof about it after work one day (after he'd sent out Dartwright to sort out a burglary case), all he said was that he's been a little stressed as of late, trying to get used to being a bigger boss now. Then, he said goodbye and made his way around her.

Alfendi has been acting weird and she didn't like it.

So she decided to turn up to work on time more often, and surprise the boys with tea to start off their days well. She would give a hot mug to the prof and he would thank her with a smile, and she would walk over to the other side of the room to give hot tea to Blaine, who would greet her "good morning" coupled with a charming smile and a nice compliment. Their days usually started fairly peacefully, until someone does something the other doesn't like and the war begins.

Blaine was looking over a case file and Lucy peered over his shoulder, curious. It was a case that he got to handle on his own. As Detective Constable and being the lowest ranking member of the Mystery Room, she had to report to the highest ranking member in the office, meaning she still needed to work with Alfendi and have him mentor her. She didn't mind at all - as far as she was concerned, nothing was different save for the fact that she now gets to see harder cases and they occasionally have to split piles of work among more people now.

The inspector looked over to her and smiled, noting her curiosity. "This is a case from downtown," he said, not unwelcome. Blaine was pretty nice and very friendly whenever he wasn't in a bad mood. "Not particularly brutal, relatively simple. Child's play, really. You can solve it."

She didn't know whether or not to take that as an insult, but her brows furrowed anyway. As she was about to open her mouth to retort, he continued, "Why don't you come with me? I'll get us lunch after." He threw her a charming smile and she felt her face burn at the attention. Was he..?

Potty Prof strode in before she could give him an answer and he grumbled, "DC Baker is not going anywhere," he said, glaring at Dartwright. He dumped three case files on the desk and turned to the two of them, crossing his arms over his chest. "She is going to stay here and solve these cases instead. Surely," he tilted his head back, "you don't need help for a case like this."

Dartwright responded with a smirk. "Well, chief," he said, "I was thinking of taking Detective Constable out for some fieldwork. She can't learn from just a screen, sir."

Potty Prof nearly conceded and agreed that there was nothing better than field work, but he instead said, "I don't care - we cut down the time we would have spent travelling and solve more cases that way." He could almost hear his docile personality make a noise in confusion, knowing his original personality was a big proponent of field work. "She is staying here."

Lucy frowned at both men, sick of the preening contest going on between the both of them. She could almost feel the electricity in the air. "Well," she began, voice clear and loud, "I think it'd be nice of my seniors to ask me first what I think." She stressed "I" and immediately noticed the guilty looks cross the males' eyes. "I _am_ in't room, you know. Stop referring to me like I'm not here!" She turned to Blaine and said, "Inspector Dartwright, I'm sorry, but I'm reporting to Chief Inspector Layton and if he says it'd be best for me to stay here then I will listen to him."

She turned her attention to the smug looking Potty Prof, whose face immediately twisted back into the slightly guilty look he was initially sporting. "And Prof," she began, before she froze, unsure of what to say. Something he had done had rubbed her the wrong way, but she wasn't sure what it was exactly.

The room was still while Lucy paused to think. Alfendi then began to prompt her, "Prof what..?"

"Nothing, sir."

He gave her a look of confusion, surprised at the sudden non-playful formality, before he immediately looked over her head to address Blaine. "Inspector Dartwright," he said, strictly, "why don't you go on and get on with that case? I'm sure there'll be more when you come back."

Dartwright pushed himself off his seat and gathered the papers together and slammed his file shut. "Of course," he said, before walking past them. "See you later, Lucy," he nodded at her. "I think I'd prefer dinner over lunch anyway."

Before Alfendi could react, Dartwright was gone, striding down the hallways with purpose.

The chief inspector and his detective constable then stood around the reconstruction machine in tense silence, with Lucy grumpily and somewhat mechanically going through procedures to solve the cases given to her. Her responses to his prompts were short and terse - Alfendi almost felt himself snap, but his calmer personality took over and decided to try damage control. However, Lucy seemed too upset, and by the time lunch rolled around, the young, plucky constable immediately excused herself and walked out of the room without so much as a "goodbye", or a "see you later, prof!"

She turned down the hallway and made her way through the familiar route towards someone who would know what to do.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Things are starting to get tense - in the Mystery Room and in my real life! I'm posting this at the same time I'm submitting my assessment. Here's hoping I'll be on time with chapter three next week - I have it penned on my planner and all, too! I hope you liked this, thank you for reading!


	3. Sichs

**Three's a Crowd  
A Mystery Room Fanfiction  
by **I Need Sleep

* * *

**Chapter 3:** Sichs

The door to forensics' office swung open and Lucy Baker strode in with her lunchbox, which she immediately plopped down on the closest open space away from the important looking beakers and flasks. Florence Sichs looked over at her friend with a confused gaze, one eyebrow lifted in question. "Hello, Lucy," she said, before she let out a tiny sneeze. "How can I help you?"

"Lovely question; ta very much, Flo," she began, unpacking her lunch with enough force to make the other female's eyebrow rise worryingly high, threatening it to join with her hairline. "Boys."

"What of them?" Florence asked, rolling towards Lucy. A sneeze propelled her closer. "You know I'm a forensics expert, not an - achoo! - advice columnist, right?"

Lucy sighed, exasperated, before she took on a more determined look. With arms crossed and lunch temporarily ignored, she said, "I know, but I don't know how to deal with them."

Florence adopted a skeptical look. "And you - achoo! Excuse me. You assume I do?"

Lucy shrugged, and looked so defeated her friend could not help but sigh. The forensics expert rolled back to her bag and retrieved her lunch, which she placed next to Lucy's sandwich. Damn her for being such a softie. "Start talking," she said, before she let out a tiny sneeze. "Are they dead or alive?" She joked. Lucy smiled.

"Alive," she said, "both. But I don't know how long that'll last." She poked at her food before she popped it into her mouth, chewing in thought. Florence dug into her sandwich and the two females chewed in silence side by side.

"What happened?" Florence asked, before she turned her head away and sneezed again. Lucy offered her her water bottle which she accepted with gratitude, gulping away with eyes still trained on her companion.

"They were trying t'establish who's alpha male today," she replied simply, frowning. "It happens so often, it's so frustrating! Inspector Dartwright tried to take me out for a case and then for lunch, and Potty Prof answered on my behalf. I mean, I get it; 'e's my mentor and it's totally okay for him to tell Blaine that I have 'ta stay in t'Mystery Room, I just… The way he did it didn't rub me the right way!"

Florence pursed her lips in attempt to hide her smile. "Maybe you should assert your dominance and tell these boys the reason there's no alpha male is because there is one alpha female and they're both betas," she said, deadpan. "Pee on them. Shame you skipped out on having lunch with someone so attractive and sure of himself, though, now you're stuck with me."

Lucy merely poked her tongue out in reply. "You know I always eat lunch with you whenever time allows, Flo."

Florence wiped some tomato sauce from the corner of her mouth with a serviette. "Sure, sure, I know you're only saying that because I'm here." Lucy poked her tongue out again. The scientist turned away and let out a loud sneeze. "It's natural there's a rivalry, seems like they both have natural desires to impress and outshine. But it's strange to me that Rude Al is making more appearances as of late – if it were just Nice Al I'm sure there wouldn't be much of an altercation. It sounds like Alfendi is jealous."

"Jealous? Jealous of what? Why would he be jealous?"

"The male ego is an odd thing," the forensics expert said, repeating something her mother had once told her when she was a kid, taking another swig of water. She wiped excess water with her serviette. "Very sensitive and volatile." A sneeze. "Tread carefully."

"What do you mean, 'tread carefully'?" Asked Lucy, popping a cherry tomato into her mouth. Her brows were furrowed in confusion. "Tread where?"

Florence threw her a look - partly disbelieving and partly surprised. "Alfendi sounds jealous now that there's a new person in the Mystery Room and you have to split your attention and admiration." A sneeze. Surely her friend, the clever Lucy Baker who managed to solve the Forbodium Castle case, couldn't be so clueless?

Lucy huffed. "What a baby," she mused, crossing her arms over her chest and thoughtfully chewing on a cracker which crunched away. Florence smirked as she watched her friend chew, before munching on her own sandwich. Silence settled in the office and the two young women sat and ate comfortably next to each other. Machines hummed around them. "What babies. Well, what do I do?"

Florence shrugged. "Maybe you could confront him about what's up with him?" She offered before she let out a little sniffle and pulled a tissue pack out of her coat pocket to wipe her nose with. She was unsure as to whether or not her advice would work, but it was the only clear solution she could think of. "But I don't know if Rude Al is going to take kindly to that." She imagined Alfendi roaring at Lucy and nearly shook for her friend. Alfendi was her friend, too, but she could not figure out how Lucy could handle his unstable – and apparently original – personality.

"I've asked Prof," Lucy mentioned, picking at another cherry tomato with her fork. "He just said it's because he's just trying to get used to being a bigger boss now, with two employees 'n' all."

The forensics expert looked ahead. "Oh, yeah," she said, before she sneezed lightly, "he's Chief Inspector now. We haven't thrown him a party for his promotion yet. Maybe we could surprise him. Speaking of which, how is Dartwright taking it?"

"Taking what?"

The tired-looking young woman chewed on a piece of lettuce that had slipped out of the sandwich. Adopting a softer voice, she said, "The switches."

Lucy nodded slowly. "Ah," she sighed, "he takes it fairly well, actually. I think t'Commissioner told him before he came in. He doesn't freak out, he just stares 'im down. No flinching. Doesn't treat him differently or anything."

Maybe having Dartwright around will be good for Alfendi – the less people who treat him oddly for his opposing personalities, the better. Maybe he would open up to people. She felt a little bit of guilt gnaw at her insides, and she hummed. Maybe she should try doing something, too, but Alfendi's other personality really scared her too much.

She looked up to find her friend looking ponderously down, defeated expression back. "What do I do?" she asked. "They're both brilliant, an' they could do so much if only they'd communicate better."

"I don't know. They're both too proud – maybe you should just talk to them together, like a little Mystery Room group therapy session. Achoo! There's not really much we could do," she said, somewhat apologetically, glancing down at her wristwatch. "Men are confusing. I wish we could throw them under a microscope and examine them."

Lucy began to pack her lunch bag away, rising from her seat. "Wish we could just pour all sorts of powders on 'em to see the reactions."

Florence paused. "You know, we can do that," she said, as mischievously as she could manage. She let out a sneeze.

The Detective Constable let out a laugh, imagining her two colleagues at the Mystery Room wandering around with powdered faces and angry frowns. "Sure, sure," she said, savoring the image. "We should! Thanks, Flo; talking to you's really cleared up my 'ead somehow. See ya later!"

"You're… welcome," she said, before adding, 'I guess?' in her head. The scientist turned her seat and raised her hand as a wave. She genuinely hoped her friend would be able to figure things out, like she usually does. "See you later, Luce."

Back to work.

* * *

**AN: **This 'one-chapter-a-week' thing is working well at the moment! I'm so glad. Apologies these chapters have been fairly short. Real life has been really busy at the moment - hopefully I can get this fanfic done in the two weeks I have off from university. Only two more chapters to go, really, and some special ones if I can remember what I had intended to write for them. Thank you for reading! See you guys next week!


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